R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. is the manufacturer of four of the United States' 10 highest-selling cigarette brands: Winston, Camel, Salem and Doral. Other RJR brands include Vantage, Excel, Jacks, Monarch, More, Sterling. RJR is also the manufacturer of Prince Albert pipe tobacco. [1]

Reynolds American, Inc. is the parent company of R.J. Reynolds, according to Reynolds American's Web site.[2] In 2010, R.J. Reynolds had total revenues of $8.6 billion and a Net Income of $1.1 billion.[3] Its CEO, Daniel Delen, made $6.2 million the same year.[4]

ALEC is a corporate bill mill. It is not just a lobby or a front group; it is much more powerful than that. Through ALEC, corporations hand state legislators their wishlists to benefit their bottom line. Corporations fund almost all of ALEC's operations. They pay for a seat on ALEC task forces where corporate lobbyists and special interest reps vote with elected officials to approve “model” bills. Learn more at the Center for Media and Democracy's ALECexposed.org, and check out breaking news on our PRWatch.org site.

Notable RJR PR documents

Letter to 5th grade class, 1972

A 1972 letter from T. K. Cahill of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company's public relations department was apparently written in response to a 5th grade elementary school class in Santa Monica, California, who wrote the company to protest a Winston cigarette advertisement that appeared in the Los Angeles Times. In the letter, Cahill assures the children that cigarette advertising is not directed at youth, but also tells them that "medical science has not found any conclusive evidence that an element in tobacco or tobacco smoke causes any human disease." (The first major Surgeon General's report definitively linking cigarette smoking with disease was issued in 1964, eight years before this letter was written). Then, in a classic example of the industry's use of the Council for Tobacco Research for public relations purposes, Cahill tells the children that,

... in a sincere attempt to determine what harmful effects, if any, smoking might have on human health, established The Council for Tobacco Research ... The answers to the many unanswered smoking and health questions -- and the true causes of human diseases -- can, we believe, be determined by scientific research. Our Company intends, therefore, to continue to support such research until the truth is known."[11]

Secondhand smoke strategy paper, 1994

A 1994 strategy paper from R.J. Reynolds (RJR) reveals the cigarette maker harbored a combative attitude towards public efforts to address problems posed by secondhand smoke. RJR says, "Federal agencies, Congress and state and local governments are pursuing increasingly aggressive regulatory measures to limit exposure to second-hand smoke, citing an alleged risk or hazard to the non-smoking public ... The stakes for RJRT and the industry have never been higher. We need to act immediately ... And we need to join the battle or engage the enemy on as many fronts as possible."

The plan lists strategies for fighting public health efforts on the secondhand smoke issue, including convincing the public that "there is a controversy, case is not closed," that "your lifestyle could be next," and substituting the term "prohibition" for "smoking ban" in all communications; convening "a high-level think tank of philosophers, professors, scientific ethicists, sociologists, historians, economists, psychologists ... to provide new ideas on the issue;" recruiting minority groups, hospitality associations, labor unions, libertarian groups and labor unions as tobacco industry allies on the secondhand smoke issue.

A handwritten notation on the document's second page poses the question, "Do we have sufficient information to prove that smoker segregation is sufficient to eliminate NS [nonsmoker] risk--perceived or otherwise?" This reveals that RJR planned to advocate mere segregation of smokers in enclosed spaces without fully knowing whether such action really provides adequate health protection to nonsmokers.

RJR also proposes using joke books, cartoons, tabloids and country/rap songs as vehicles to disseminate the company's messages about secondhand smoke.

The cigarette maker further planned to put on its own "science and policy forum" about secondhand smoke to highlight "improper use of science" and "call for responsible use of science in formulating policy." RJR proposed that the forum "could be held in Washington, D.C. and sponsored by an institute or reputable think tank," to lend prestige and obscure tobacco industry involvement in the event. In formulating plans for the forum, RJR cites what it believes to be misguided previous public health issues: